Halloween and Spring are Guardians!
by Harley Batman
Summary: A threat to the children of the world has risen and Man in the Moon picked two new Guardians. One is very likely to be one. But the other, not so much. He is known among the other spirits and holiday icons as being as dark as Pitch, or Boogeyman, maybe even darker. So what happens when these two become Guardians? Will they manage to save the children or not?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

*Third person POV*

River Flora is chasing Alcmene, her red fox, through the forest. She doesn't notice the pooka sneaking up on her, until a burlap sack is thrown over her head. River starts pouting, "Ya know you could've just asked Bunny!"

The pooka just snickers and, after a bumpy ride when he was running, deposits her on the floor of North's workshop. She crawls out, "Jeez."

Bunny just snickers in response.

River mock glares at him, "Ya just love making me suffer, huh?"

"Yep." Bunny confirms.

"Ok, that's it, I'm done helping ya with Easter." River picks up Alcmene.

"Ya already knew this." Bunny rolls his eyes and crosses his arms.

River looks around, "So why exactly am I here?"

North steps closer with a grin, "Because you are to become a Guardian!"

"Huh!?" River looks at him shocked and confused.

"Oh now he talks!" River exclaims, "But why? I mean, yea, I love the kids, but why me?"

Tooth flutters around, a bit nervously, "No one knows why, he makes the decisions, we just," Tooth struggles to find the right word, "listen." She tilts her head, unsure still if she got it right.

River tilts her head, "Hmm, I'll consider it."

Bunny shakes his head, "It ain't somethin ta consider sheila."

River sighs, "Look, I'm happy MiM wants me to be a Guardian, but I just don't think I have what it takes to be one."

"You do," North insists, "if MiM picked you, River."

River thinks for a bit, "I don't know…."

Bunny sighs, "At least give it the good ol' try."

"Fine." River gives in when Alcmene wriggles free and runs off. "Hey!" She chases after her companion.

Bunny snorts at that, Tooth giggles, North shakes his head with a smile, Sandy grins, and Jack has been missing this whole time. As River chased her companion into the toy room, she dropped her notebook. "Got ya!" She exclaims as she grabs the fox.

Jack, who happened to be in the toy room, grabbed up her notebook and resists looking in it. He may be nosy but he's not rude. "This yours?" He holds it out to the mysterious girl.

River looks up at the pale spirit, he has snow white hair, blue eyes, and a light dusting of freckles. "Oh, yea."

Jack hands it over to the girl.

River smiles at him, "Thanks, Jack, right?"

Jack grins, someone knew his name, "Yep and you?"

"River Flora and this little troublemaker is Alcmene." River introduces herself and her fox.

Jack flipped in the air so he was upside down, "Nice to meet you."

"Same." River folded her legs, sitting on air.

Jack flips right side up, "You can talk to Wind too?"

"Yup!" She starts looking at toys.

"They're cool, right?" Jack grins, still finding wonder in the toys his adoptive father makes. Jack has been helping North make them since he started living there after defeating Pitch. But he still can find the childish wonder in them, but then again, that was the point with the toys.

"Yea, they are." River nods in agreement.

Jack finds one to play with until he got bored and left. It wasn't longer after River, who had been painting a toy, starts painting the elves spring colors.

Bunny comes in, "Why Sheila?"

She stands up and grins, "Why not?"

Bunny shakes his head and muses thoughtfully, "They look like oddly misshapen Easter eggs."

River puts the paintbrush down, "Exactly."

The pooka snickers.

River thinks for a moment and grins, "They're missing something though."

"Which is?" Bunny crosses his arms and leans against the wall.

"Not sure yet." The spring spirit shrugs.

"Ok…" Bunny sighs.

"Wonder what would happen if I put them in baskets." River muses out loud.

"No." Bunny shakes his head, he knew North wouldn't appreciate that.

"It was just a thought. Not like I'm brave enough to try it." River shrugs.

"Good." Bunny pauses, his ears twitch back. "Speaking of bravery… Have ya heard of the Halloween kid?" The pooka shivers, having heard many bad tales about the holiday spirit.

"Yup," River nods, "but never been around during his season."

"Well, MiM picked him to be a Guardian as well. Though I always heard he's as nasty as Pitch, so I don't get it." Bunny thinks over everything he's heard about him.

"Pitch?" River tilts her head, curious.

"The boogeyman." Bunny uses Pitch's other name.

"Oh, him." River nods, now understanding. She gets distracted by something.

Bunny sighs and rolls his eyes, "Hey, Sheila!"

River looks up, "Yea?"

"Yer comin' with Frostbite and me ta fetch Halloween." Bunny stands up.

River smiles, "Ok."

Bunny glances around, "Where's Frostbite?"

River shrugs, "He was playing with a toy awhile ago."

Bunny heaves a sigh, already exhausted.

Alcmene decides to bolt. "Alcmene, no!" River tries to grab her. Bunny quickly grabs her before she can get out the door. River grabs the fox back, "Thanks."

"Yea yea," Bunny rolls his eyes, "now lets find the Frostbite."

"K." River uses Wind to fly off. Bunny rolls his eyes and runs off, sniffing the Frostbite. He finds the winter spirit up to now good, bothering the yetis making toys. Bunny grabbed Jack and brought him to the office where the others were.

"So," Jack sat in the air, "to refresh my mind. What are we doing again?"

Bunny groaned, Jack hardly ever pays attention in the meetings, "Hunting down Halloween."

"Oh, him." Jack frowned. "I heard he ain't all that nice."

"Yea but MiM chose him ta be a Guardian." Bunny crosses his arms.

"What!?" Jack raises his voice. "But-he's like Pitch scary and his powers, aren't they like black magic or something?!"

Bunny sighs, "No clue. Ain't like anyone's actually seen him."

Jack mutters, "Great. So where are we gonna find him?"

Bunny shrugs in response, done with Jack's dramatics. Jack starts pouting.

River giggles at the two, "North, did MiM say where he might be?"

"Nyet, MiM did not say." North shakes his head.

"Darn." River starts thinking.

Jack lays out in the air. Bunny stares off thinking. Sandy sits on a small sand cloud, he had an idea of where 'Halloween' might be, but no one has asked him yet. North paces in thought. Tooth flutters about.

"Well," River speaks up getting everyone's attention, "we could split up and look for 'im."

Tooth's fluttering turns nervous, she's heard the stories and was worried, "Maybe."

North nods and immediately agrees, "Da, sounds like good plan."

"So, where we gonna start looking first?" Jack tilts his head.\

River shrugs, unsure.

"Maybe Europe since it's spring here." Bunny suggests.

"Sounds good to me." River agrees.

Tooth nods, "Ok, we'll each take a country. But Jack, stay away from the hotter places."

"Yea, yea." Jack rolls his eyes.

"Jack, I'm serious." Tooth scolds.

"Ok." Jack nods to appease Tooth.

"Now let's go!" North goes to his sleigh and jumps in.

Bunny groans. "Not happenin' mate." He already felt sick.

River jumps in next to North, "Come on Bunny."

Jack flies into the back of the sleigh, a bit disappointed he couldn't sit next to his adoptive father. Tooth and Sandy get into the back with him.

"No." Bunny taps his foot on the ground, creates a tunnel to Europe and jumps through.

"Buckle up!" North laughs as he grabs the reins and snaps them. Jack grins happily and River bounces in excitement. When they get to Europe and meet up with Bunny.

River jumps out of the sleigh, "That was AWESOME!"

Bunny's ears fold back, "Really Sheila? Do ya have ta yell?"

"Sorry Bunny." The spring spirit apologizes sheepishly. Bunny gives her an annoyed look.

Tooth giggles, "So, who goes where?"

"I go to Russia." North beams proudly.

"Paris!" River jumps around.

Tooth thinks for a second, "I'll take India."

"Aussie for me mates." Bunny smirks.

"I guess I'll take Germany." Jack shrugs.

"Good, now let's get started, da?" North couldn't even finish before Jack zips off. Everyone else disperses. River doesn't find Halloween in France, North got distracted in Russia, Tooth searched all of India and came up with nothing. Jack didn't find anything in Germany and Bunny turned up nothing in Australia.

River decides to go exploring, "What do you say to brief visit to China Alcmene?"

"Why China?" Alcmene asks.

"Well why not?" River asks tilting her head.

Alcmene kinda shrugs, "Don't know."

"To China then." River grabs the fox and flies off.

*My POV*

I was in China, running along the rooftops plotting my next prank. I crouch on a rooftop and watch my prey. The prey is unsuspecting of what I'm up to. I make him fall and roll into a trashcan. He gets up and swears in mandarin. I start giggling since I understand most all languages and mandarin is one.

"Well that was impressive." I look up to see a girl hovering over my roof. I glare at her and quickly disappear into the darkness. I teleport myself to Japan.

*Third person POV*

River rolls her eyes when Halloween disappears, "All right, time to get back to the others." River goes back to Europe to find the Guardians gathered around the sleigh, she lands next to Bunny.

"Hey." Bunny greets.

"Yo." River nods at Bunny.

"Find him?" Bunny asks her.

"Yup," She nods, "but then disappeared into the shadows."

Jack yells, "He might as well be Pitch!"

"Have any of you seen Sandy?" Tooth looks around.

River shakes her head, "No."

Jack sighs, "Now we have to look for Sandy and relook for Halloween."

"Pretty much." River shrugs.

"Well, where should we look?" Tooth flutters about nervously.

"Asia and he won't be in China anymore." River informs.

"Well," Bunny creates one of his magic tunnels, "let's get goin' then." He jumps in.

The others get to Asia and look but don't find me. River wanders off while the others get into a debate on where Halloween might be.

*My POV*

I am in Japan playing with the children. I am helping them pull pranks on adults, that is until I looked up and see Sandy. I run off into the woods after sending the children home, telling them it was late and they need sleep. Sandy smiles and waves at me.

"Hey bro." I grin at one of three people I trust.

Sandy smiles and starts making sand images, telling me all that I've missed.

I grin at most images but a few catch my eye, "Wait-wha? Me? A guardian?" I point at myself.

Sandy nods happily.

"No, I can't." I shake my head, refusing to believe it.

Sandy crosses his arms and nods in that stubborn way of his.

"Last I checked, yer one of the only spirits who even knows me and that I ain't on Pitch's side of the fight." I sulk, crossing my arms.

Sandy gives me a look, this look means 'At least try'.

"Why?" I ask all whiny.

Sandy gives me his puppy eyes in response.

I pout, "Not fair, that's my job!" I stomp my foot.

Sandy keeps it up and doesn't relent.

"Meanie!"

Sandy grins happily.

I sigh, "Give me a good reason. Ya know I can't stand new people unless it's children."

Sandy points at the moon, as if thinking that'll work.

I roll my eyes and snort, "And when was the last time he did any good to me?"

Sandy flashes more images.

I sigh, "I'll do it fer the children and you."

Sandy grins happily and makes a sand cloud. I sit on it beside him, "Don't expect me ta be nice ta 'em or talking ta 'em."

Sandy just shrugs and takes us to them. They were hanging around a sleigh, Santa's sleigh. Sandy lowers us to them and I curl in on myself. I'm sure they all heard the stories.

There was a tall older man, Santa; a large grey rabbit, the Easter Bunny; a colorful female with wings, Tooth Fairy; a boy and girl I don't know. The girl was tall and has honey gold hair; the boy was pale, has white hair and frost on his sweater, I think he's the Jack Frost I've heard about. The girl was sitting on the back of the sleigh with a red fox, Jack Frost was floating in the air, and the other three were in a huddle, talking. Tooth Fairy looks over at us and smiles, "Hey, they're both here. Sandy must've gone to find Halloween."

The Easter Bunny rolls his eyes, "Finally."

"Be nice!" Tooth Fairy scolds.

"Welcome Comrade!" Santa exclaims ignoring the other two who had started bickering. Santa has a russian accent or was russian.

I just stare down, now and again glancing through my bangs. Sandy gently pats my back. I shrug him off, I didn't want to be touched.

Jack Frost tilts his head, "What's with him?"

"Awww, poor thing must be shy." Tooth Fairy cooes at me. I don't want attention.

Sandy nods and I shake my head at the same time.

"He'll get used to us." Santa declares. "Ah, I'm North, this is Bunny, Tooth, Jack Frost, River Flora, and Sandy." North introduces everyone and points as he says their names.

"Can we go back now?" Jack asks impatiently, like a child would.

The girl, River, notices something, "Hm?"

I peek in that direction as well, but notices nothing. River starts moving towards whatever she sees carefully. I watch her through my bangs but do nothing.

Bunny looks over at her, "SHeila?"

She looks to him, "Hm?"

"What're ya up to?" He was trying to see what she does.

River looks back then to Bunny, "I thought I saw something. But it must've been my imagination."

"We're leaving, now come on." Bunny created a magic tunnel by tapping his foot on the ground, he jumped in and when it closed there was a flower there. North, Jack, Tooth, and River get in the sleigh. Thankfully Sandy didn't make me get in too, we stayed on the cloud the whole way to North's place. It was a factory like building on an ice cliff in the north pole.

I stuck close to Sandy when we got there, we had gone to a room, it looked like a cozy sitting room, and Sandy and I sat on a couch. I watch as North does paperwork, Bunny draws, and Tooth flits about nervously. The other two had gone missing.

Bunny looks up at Tooth, either he is just now noticing her pacing or is finally sick of it, "What's wrong now, sheila?"

Tooth doesn't pause in her pacing, "I can't help but to think Pitch may be back."

"Why?" Bunny asks her plain and simple.

"I don't know." Tooth looks helpless.

"Then chill." Bunny goes back to his drawing.

Tooth settles in and tries to relax. North chuckles, Sandy just shakes his head and starts making shapes with his sand. That catches my attention for awhile, but I get bored like all children do and wanders off. I find a room just filled with toys, I've never seen so many before in my life. I look at the ones I could without touching them. I didn't want to break or destroy one.

"They're neat, huh?" I hear a voice say, one I haven't heard before.

I whip around and see a red fox near by, just sitting and watching me. I believe it was River's fox. It tilts its' head and I shake mine. "You're not hearing things sweetie." It says.

I frown at two things, one being a talking fox, second at being called sweetie. Both bother me greatly.

"I'm Alcmene by the way." The fox introduces itself.

"Salem." I grumble.

"It's nice to meet you." It says.

I turn around, hoping to ignore the thing. I hate most things, foxes were one.

"I think I'll go freak out the others. Care to join me?" The fox asks.

I still ignore it. It leaves and I look around the room more. But of course, at some point I got bored and went into the rafters and was pulling pranks on most thing that crossed my path. I'm not one to be found in buildings or on a leash. So I guess you could say, I was taking out my frustrations of both happening at once.

*Third person POV*

"Where could he've gone?" Bunny looks around, a bit nervous.

Tooth is flitting about, "Oh dear, this could be bad, real bad."

"Ya know he could still be in the toy room, right?" Alcmene suggests, deciding to end their scrambling which has gone on much longer than this.

"And ya decided to wait ta say this why?" Bunny growled out glaring at the fox.

"Because your frantic scrambling amuses me." Alcmene states bluntly.

Bunny starts grumbling, "Evil creature."

River giggles at all this, "Allie, be nice to Bunny."

Bunny stalks off still grumbling and unamused, he goes to the sitting room coming up with new easter egg designs and keeping an eye out for the Halloween spirit. Tooth and Sandy go to do their jobs. North starts working on some new toy ideas and River is playing with elves while Jack goes to mess with the yetis. Later at night, North and Bunny go to their rooms to sleep. River falls asleep in a pile of stuffed animals. Jack goes to a window seat to sleep and Salem, known as Halloween by most, fell asleep in the rafters.


	2. Chapter 2

Bunny and North are in the kitchen talking over a cup of coffee about whether or not Halloween should be trusted. Bunny insists, "I say we shouldn't have allowed him in North."

North looks over and shrugs, "Manny says he good, so we give him chance."

"North, mate," Bunny leans forward, "he's dangerous. From what River said yesterday, it sounds like he can use shadows, like Pitch. He can use black magic, that I know."

North sighs, "Sandy seems to know him, let's ask him da?"

"Sandy?" Bunny's ears twitch, he did not expect Sandy to know Halloween.

North nods and gets up, washes his mug and looks back at Bunny expectantly.

"Fine." Bunny gets up, washes his mug, and follows North out to look for the Guardian of Dreams. When they found him, he was looking for something. "Oy! Sandy." Bunny shouts.

Sandy turns around with a question mark over his head.

"Do ya think we should keep Halloween around?" Bunny asks directly.

Sandy thinks for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of Salem being there, then comes to his conclusion and nods. Salem will be a great asset.

"Why is that?" Bunny demands.

Sandy makes images of times he has witnessed Salem with children or times from children's dreams; how he would make them happy with candy, help them in prank wars or prank others but never let them get hurt, halloween was a big one for Salem and the children. It was Salem's job to make sure there was a perfect level of tricks and treats. It used to be that he would make sure everyone was safe from the spirits that would cross over through the realm, he would make sure they would have masks on and candy left out, but not anymore, now Salem makes sure that the children get candy and never too scared by haunted houses or teenagers that find it funny to terrify young children. Sandy didn't tell them about his past jobs, he only told them of Salem's current jobs.

"He stays then." North decides.

"Seriously?" Bunny asks, not seeing why, "Him helping kids pull pranks and kids don't get to scared on halloween is the deciding factor?"

Sandy at first smiles when North says Salem is staying but frowns at what Bunny says. He shows them more images of Salem using revenge pranks on teens and adults that are mean to kids, of course he never hurt them in the process.

Bunny rolls his eyes and hops off. Sandy grin's happily and goes back to looking for his 'adoptive' son. North shakes his head chuckling as he goes to check on Jack, who is outside burning energy off. North sees River hanging upside down from a rafter for some odd reason but doesn't ask. After checking on Jack he goes to his office to get work done.

*My POV*

~A few hours later~

I jerk wake due to a really loud alarm going off. I nearly off the rafter I slept on but I catch myself and jump down. I go to the office and hide in a corner, not wanting to be bothered. Tooth, Sandy, and River come in through the door while Bunny came out of one of his tunnels in the middle of the room.

"What's going on?" River asks the question of the hour.

"Hey North, what's going on?" Jack comes zipping into the room and asks.

"Arachne." North says gravely.

Jack tilts his head confused, "Who?"

Bunny's ears go back, "Not her."

"Oh dear." Tooth starts subconsciously flitting about nervously. "This isn't good, not good at all. This is bad, real bad."

North nods in agreement to what his two friends said, "Sadly it is."

Sandy even makes symbols in distress, Sandy never does that, never.

"Bunny, whose Arachne?" River tilts her head in confusion.

Bunny shivers at her name but answers the girl, "A very dark spot in our history. She's the first spider created, but she's more hybrid than spider. She is more vile and dangerous than Pitch. Manny created a prison and it took seven of us just to seal there. Problem is, who broke her out, why, and how'd they know where she was? No one knows where the prison is but Manny and the ones to seal her."

"Should I get Cupid?" River asks.

Bunny nods, "Actually, yes. He helped with sealing her."

Sandy creates a four leaf clover over his head. I knew who he meant, it was Patty's symbol.

"Him too." Tooth nods, "We'll need him."

"Bunny, tunnel please." River asks looking to Bunny.

"Sure thing sheila." Bunny creates a tunnel for her, River thanks Bunny then she jumps into and disappears. The tunnel closes with a flower on top.

I find it extremely cool. I go poke Sandy and when he looks at me, I whisper, "We need to go find Patty and bring him here."

Sandy nods and follows me into the hall, "So, where is he now?"

Sandy makes an image of the country Africa. I sigh and put a hand on his shoulder, "Great, he's halfway across the world again." I mutter then speak a bit louder, "Ok, shadows again."

Sandy shrugs and follows me into a patch of shadows. I teleport us to Africa and we search for my older brother. We finally find him on a roof watching over a small village, probably trying to bring them luck, the problem there is that Africa is a difficult one for all spirits.

"Hey," I hug him and my voice becomes muffled by his shirt, "been awhile."

"Heyah kid." Patrick hugs me back.

Sandy waves at him and Pat waves back, "Hey Sandy. So what brings ya to these parts?"

"Um." I step back, take a deep breath and tells him, "So, some spider hybrid named Arachne escaped this prison MiM made and it was supposed to be super top secret, I guess."

Pat runs a hand through his hair, "Geez, alright, I'll help ya."

"Ya know her?" I tilt my head, I could tell something was up when I mentioned her.

"Long story, something I'd rather not relive." Patrick waves it off.

"Oh," I can understand if he doesn't want to talk about it since Bunny told Jack, River, and I some of it, "Bunny told us a bit."

When Pat looked worried, Sandy explained with his sand that Bunny told us the basics. Patty nods, "Well, at least he told ya that much."

"Why?" I ask, curious again. It couldn't be that bad, right? "How bad was it?"

Strong, unbreakable Patrick shudders, "Extremely bad."

"Oh, ok." I feel bad for pestering him with it now. "So, back to North's?"

"Yup, can ya use yer shadows, or is Sandy gonna bring us back?" Patrick asks.

Sandy ended up bringing us back, it was near impossible in Africa, too much sun, very little light. The shadows were too weak for the three of us to travel that way and it would have taken too much outta me. When we got back we went to North's office where Bunny, Tooth, and of course, North were at, but River wasn't back yet with that Cupid guy.

"Ah, Patrick." North greets him with a smile.

"Hey North, been awhile." Pat starts innocently, but like always, he has to pick on people, "You've been getting old, huh?" Patty grins.

North starts laughing, I shake my head, and Bunny snickers, "He's got ya there, old man."

North shakes his head. It's just like Patrick to start things, at least these guys can take it and they have dealt with him before.

Tooth smiles, she seems calmer since Sandy and I left. "Well, things will be interesting now."

Bunny grins happily, "Just wait till Cupid gets here."

"Oh?" Pat perks up at 'Cupid', "Cupid's coming? I haven't seen him, since, well, last time we all worked together. He's always to busy to play." That's Pat's way of saying 'hang out.'

"Not his fault mate and yea, his sister's bringing him." Bunny shrugs.

"His sister?" Pat cocks his head, "Never heard 'bout that."

"Yup." Bunny confirms.

"So, spill the beans Bunny rabbit." Pat urges.

"One, don't call me that," Bunny glares, "two, you'll meet her soon enough."

Patrick just snickers, "Make me, Bunny rabbit." Pat teases him.

Bunny tenses up for a fight, "Yer askin' fer it mate."

"Not in here boys, if you are going to fight, at least use the gym." Tooth scolds, she was obviously used to this. They must've fought a lot. The boys head to the gym and the rest of us tag along. Jack and I mainly out of curiosity and excitement. As they fight, it was easy to see, they were evenly matched. I don't remember ever seeing anyone be on the same fighting level as my big brother. Sandy was talking with North, who had come to watch along with Tooth.

"Shouldn't River be back with Cupid by now?" I hear North ask and I start tuning into their conversation.

"Now that you mention it, she should be." Tooth starts fretting.

Bunny calls a timeout, "She better be ok."

"Awwww, is the big bad rabbit concerned?" Jack teases Bunny at the wrong time.

Bunny glares, "So what if I am?"

"Who woulda thought you could be a big softy?" Jack continues teasing.

"Ya wanna fight Frostbite?" Bunny growls and moves closer to him.

"Not happening!" Tooth quickly intervenes.

"Jack, leave Bunnymund alone." North warns the winter spirit.

"Why?" Jack demands like a child.

Sandy sighs, I could tell he was not amused with this.

"Jack." North warns him again.

"What?" Jack doesn't get it.

Bunny finally changes the subject, "Where could they be?"

"Well, we should find them before..." Patty finishes, unable to continue.

North shakes his head, "Agreed."

Tooth nods, "But where would Cupid go? He never talked much about and with his work, well, he could be anywhere!"

"Yea, but chances are he's either in france or Spain." Bunny suggests with a shrug.

I raise my hand. I know what the others think of me, Bunny especially, and I know I'm not trusted.

North gets a puzzled look on his face when I do this, "Yes Salem?"

I put my hand back in my hoodie pocket, "Can we try Spain? There's a festival, kinda like a fair, but it's about celebrating love."

"What are waiting for?" Bunny asks impatiently, "Let's go!" Bunny makes a tunnel and disappears into it. Pat and I go into the shadows and I teleport us there. The others presumably takes North's sleigh.

*Third person POV*

~A while earlier in the day~

Cupid is on a rooftop keeping an eye on a couple. This couple has been having a lot of concerning trouble. He is suddenly attacked into a hug.

"Cupid!" River tackles her brother in a hug, "I missed you."

Cupid stumbles but hugs her back, "Hello River. I have missed you too."

"Sooo, what have you been up too? Besides making or breaking relationships?" River pulls away and stands next to Cupid as he gets back to work.

"I have not done much else. What have you been doing since I saw you last?" He glances briefly at his younger sister.

"Well," River starts, "I became a Guardian because papa wants to try and I may or may not have gotten in trouble with North."

"A Guardian? Interesting. How did you possibly get in trouble with North?" Cupid is actually a little curious about this. River normally behaves.

"I painted the elves to look odd easter eggs." River smiles at the memory.

Cupid sighs.

"Papa thought it was funny." River supplies.

"Of course he would." Cupid states like it was obvious, which it was, "Those two have been fighting for centuries now about whether or not the other's holiday is more important."

"True, oh!" River suddenly remembers why she's there in the first place, "We need your help."

"Why?" Cupid is now concerned, "What has happened."

"Uh." River takes a deep breath, "Some hybrid spider escaped this prison Manny made and is now running free. I think her name was Arachne or something?"

Cupid's face changes into a mixture of horror, anger, and a bit of fear.

"Cupid?" River tilts her head, confused and concerned.

Cupid shakes his head, "This is not good."

River's brows furrow and her whole face turns to one of confusion.

"River," Cupid's voice becomes very serious, "she is possibly the most dangerous thing to walk the Earth."

River's eyes widen, "Really?"

"Yes. Please do not go looking for her to test this." Cupid warns his sister.

"I won't," River promises, "but we've gotta do something."

Cupid nods, thinking, "I still need to finish my work here though. I can not just leave it unfinished."

River's eyes light up, "Can I help!? Please?"

"You may stay, but there is no way you would be able to help. You do not have my power and my arrows only work for me, you know this." Cupid glances at River.

"Aww, fine." River pouts.

"You knew this already." Cupid's brows are furrowed.

River shrugs, "Eh, worth a shot. Now hurry up, you know how papa gets."

Cupid just shoots her a frustrated look and gets back to the work he's been trying to do. River does try to wait, but ends up leaving him to explore the fair. Cupid settles in, content with the silence. River finds paintings and admires them.

*My POV*

Pat and I get to Spain but don't see the others, so we, well Patrick since I was on his back, wander off to find Cupid and River ourselves. They shouldn't mind, right? Well, Patty's the one to find Cupid. Cupid has sandy blonde hair, I think pink eyes, lean build with an average height, lean, and a slight tan. I was surprised to find he wore normal clothes; purple hoodie unzipped so you can see his red v-neck shirt, faded blue jeans, and black combat boots. I thought he would wear, I don't know exactly, just, something fancier. Pat comes up behind him, "Well, hey there buddy!" He sits down, "Been what? A century?

Cupid doesn't look up, "Yes."

"Aw, come on." Pat whines, "Can't you talk more than that? Tell me about your sister. I never even knew ya had one." Pat starts poking him.

Cupid sighs, I feel bad for him, "I will tell you later, for now I have my job to do. Can you kindly stop poking me, please?"

Pat sighs exaggeratedly but does as asked, "You're still as boring as ever, ya know that?"

Cupid smiles faintly, "You are still as annoying as ever."

Pat grins, "Of course." He starts telling him what he's been up to. I noticed he excluded his work as a thief for hire. Cupid shakes his head slightly. I smile sleepily at the two, I'm surprised Cupid's even listening to him.

"I'm almost finished, then we may leave." Cupid informs us.

"Alright. I think Salem is falling asleep." Patty glances back at me.

"Salem?" Cupid questions. He hasn't heard Patrick mention me before.

"Huh?" Pat thinks for a second before it clicks, "Oh yea, I never told you, my adopted brother. He's the Halloween others talk about."

"Ah," Cupid nods, "so he is the one who I have been hearing about."

"Do ya believe the rumors?" Patrick gets defensive of me.

Cupid rolls his eyes at his friends question, "You have known me for how long? Have you ever known me to believe such nonsense?"

Pat shrugs, "Good point. It's just most everyone does. Bunny absolutely does not trust him. There's that newer Guardian Jack, he seems to be fine with Salem, I think. North and Tooth are at least warming up to him. But then again, they're super nice. Sandy's is our adopted dad, so yea, kinda obvious he loves Salem."

Cupid absorbs this information, "I highly doubt that River could truly hate anyone."

"Who?" Pat asks, he attempts to raise an eyebrow but fails.

Cupid hides a smile, "River is my adopted sister." He finishes his work.

"Ah, ok." Pat nods, "Ya done now?"

"Yes." Cupid stands up.

"Finally!" Pat exclaims.

Cupid rolls his eyes, "Now to find my sister."

"Cool." Patty stands up and shifts my weight causing me to hold him a bit tighter.

Cupid looks back at Patrick while they walk, "Just a warning, she can be quite difficult to find if she manages to stay in one place."

Patrick smiles, "I'm sure I've played worse games with this one." He gets down off the rooftop.

Cupid shrugs and climbs down from the building, "Let's just find her before something happens, shall we?"

I raise my head off of Pat's shoulder as we disappear into the crowd. I can see better from Patty's back since I'm higher up than them. Cupid took to the air, his white wings spread out. "I do not see her."

"Same." Pat kept looking around at the crowd of people.

I stare in awe for a moment at Cupid's wings before going back to looking for River. I spot her at some jewelry stand and points at it. "There."

Cupid lands, "Alright, let's go." We make our way through the crowd over to the stand. We find her looking at the jewelry.

"Hi." I whisper quietly, speaking to her for the first time.

Pat grins, he was up to something, "Hi, I'm Patrick. Halloween's big bro and Cupid's bestest friend ever." 'So, he was being a pain in the ass to Cupid.' I muse to myself.

"From the look Cupid's giving you, I'd say you're lying." River points out.

That causes Patty to start pouting, "Aw, that hurt's Cupid. And here I thought you actually thought of me as yer bestest friend."

Cupid shakes his head, "Not a chance."

"Don't worry Patty. Ya have Sandy at least!" I smile sweetly, even though I just basically told my big brother that he doesn't even have me.

"Uhmm, ok?" He doesn't get it. He's not smart enough.

I slide off Patrick's back. Something felt wrong, a child was scared. But why? "Patty? Something's wrong."

"You sure?" Patrick asks, double checking.

I glare at him, "Are you doubting my power to know when a child is scared?"

"Calm down, I just wanna make sure." Pat soothes, he knows I take this seriously.

I go to speak, let Pat know it was ok, but I get cut off by a child's scream.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Note~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I give all credit to frostofsummer for Patrick's powers, which will show later, and his weapon's used and his line of work. frostofsummer, you are an amazing person for allowing me to use those ideas and an amazing author. Keep up the good work. Thank you soooooooo much!


	3. Chapter 3

I take off in the direction it came from. I don't even think of the dangers, that it could be Arachne or Pitch, even. The others follow closely. We find a child napping in a park with Pitch standing over her, giving her nightmares.

"Pitch." Cupid greets.

"Hey old man." Patrick sneers.

Pitch smiles, "You're just as old as me Patrick."

Patrick grins, "I wear it better."

Cupid sighs. I use them as a distraction to get to the little girl and it works. I manage to get to grab her and quickly use the shadows from the tree she was sleeping under to get high up into the tree branches.

"Pitch, what happened to you? You used to be good." Cupid asks.

Pitch bites out, "You know what happened."

Cupid is unfazed, "Pitch, just because they stopped fearing you doesn't mean they forgot about you."

Pitch throws his hands in the air, "This has never been about that Cupid, it's much more."

Cupid shakes his head, "There is nothing you can do to change what happened then Pitch. Oh, and Arachne has been released."

Pitch is shocked into silence, "She-but-how?"

Patrick shrugs, "Not sure, but if we don't got to her, then what happened last time will happen again."

"Or worse." Pitch frowns deeply, "She has it out for us and those four Guardians."

Cupid nods, "Thankfully she doesn't know about the newest Guardians."

Pitch raises his eyebrows, "There are even more? I know about Frost."

"Uhmm, hi." River looks around Cupid.

Pitch studies her, "And the other one?"

"Salem? He's up there." Patrick points at the tree.

Pitch freezes at his son's name, "Salem?"

"Yea, why?" Patrick shrugs, oblivious as ever.

Cupid gives him a look that says, 'remember?'. Pitch was once good, during that time he had told Cupid and Patrick about his children. His oldest became Mother Nature but his son became Salem, also known as Halloween. It was a well kept secret, one only MiM and the parties involved knew.

It clicks in Patrick's head, "Oh, right."

Cupid sighs, "You are an idiot Patrick."

"Eh." Pat shrugs, he was unfazed by Cupid calling him that. I carefully come down from the tree, holding the girl.

River tugs on Cupid's sleeve, "Can we go please?"

I whisper softly, "We need sandy." I wasn't heard though.

"Will you help us?" Cupid stares at Pith.

I stare in horror at Cupid. Let's just put it this way, I don't get along with my father.

"I doubt the Guardians will appreciate that." Pitch crosses his arms.

"Us three are the only ones who know how to seal Arachne, Pitch." Cupid tries.

"The Guardians know how to as well, they were there, and they have more helpers now."

"Aww, come on Pitch, since when have you cared what they think?" Pat teases.

Pitch glares at Patrick, "There are other people."

I finally got fed up with being ignored and screamed. I was a bit surprised the girl slept through it. But, then again, she was deep into whatever nightmare Pitch gave her. The others turn to me with varying looks of surprise and shock, well except for Pat, he was used to me using this method to get someone's attention if they ignore me. "We can argue about this later. We need Sandy."

"I'll go find him." River flies off.

I sit down and put the girl in my lap. When River came back with Sandy I didn't look up, "Pitch made a bad nightmare for her daddy." I purposely use my special nickname for Sandy to push Pitch's buttons. Sandy gives the little girl good dreams and she relaxes.

Pitch leans over and whispers to Cupid and Pat, "Did he just call that ball of sand 'daddy'?"

"Yup." Patrick nods.

"Why?" Pitch demands.

Pat shrugs, "Well, not long after he became a spirit Sandy and I found him. Not long after that, he became my little brother and Sandy adopted him."

As Pitch tries to stay calm, the other Guardians show up. Immediately Tooth starts fluttering around River, then me. "Oh thank Manny, you're ok River and you, Halloween."

I just look up a little, still holding the child. I was afraid that if I let go she will have another nightmare. River just looks over.

Jack looks around, "What happened here? Why's Pitch here?"

River explains all that happened. Jack is skeptical about Pitch helping, "So he's now suddenly all good?"

River just shrugs. Patrick slings an arm around Pitch's shoulders, "What do ya say, old friend? Be good for a little while?"

"We could use your help, after all she may be stronger." Cupid adds.

Pitch sighs, he knew he was beat, "Only because Arachne is free."

"Alright!" Pat grins. I frown at this. River doesn't seem to care all that much. Sandy pats me on the head and isn't amused with this either. Honestly, only North, Patrick, and Cupid seem to be happy with this. I move the child from my lap and teleport back to the Workshop, as I teleported away I heard Pat say, 'And there he goes, where he went? No one knows.'. When I get there bad things start to happen, the yetis, elves, and walls get covered in paint balls. The yetis and elves that escaped the paint balls got caught in traps. All of this resulted from my power over pranks and mischief. I hide on a rafter curled up, pouting. I heard the others come back.

*Third person POV*

"What has happened?" North stares shocked at his Workshop.

Patrick really was trying hard not to laugh, "I'll give you a wild guess."

Bunny growls, not amused by what the spirit did. Tooth flutters about trying to soothe the elves and yetis. Jack and River were snickering.

"Interesting." Cupid smiles.

Sandy starts to make sand images of an angry Salem, Patrick understood, Sandy was saying, 'He is angry and lost control.'

"I'll go talk to him." Patrick volunteers.

'Have fun.' Sandy signs to his adopted son.

Patrick heads off and looks up into the rafters. It took only a few seconds to find his brother on a rafter curled up in a ball.

*My POV*

"Hey." I heard, I look down to see green eyes staring back at me. Great, they sent Patrick. Pat sighs which catches my attention, again, "Look, you only have to put up with him until Arachne is taken care of."

"Ya know I hate 'im." I mutter.

"I know," Pat nods, "but we may need his help."

I whisper quietly, "I didn't mean too. I can still barely control it when I lose my temper or get scared."

"I know and I don't blame you." Patrick reassures me, "But you should apologize to North."

"Why? Why do I have to talk to them?" I ask.

Pat takes a breath, "Because I'm not going to apologize for you."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not."

"Why?" By now I'm hiding a smile and grateful to be out of reach to him.

"Because I don't want to."

"Why?"

"You're just being annoying now, aren't ya?"

"Why?"

"Jerk."

I nod, "I know."

"Come down."

"Why?"

"Fine, stay up there." He starts to leave.

"Ok." I lay down on my back and get comfy.

Patrick leaves. After a while though my guilt gets the better of me and I do come down. I look for North and find River talking to Cupid. Better than Bunny, I shuffle over and poke her. I pull my hoodie closer to me when she turns toward me, "Hm?"

"Where's North?" I whisper real quiet. After my little stunt I'm surprised she's talking to me. I'll be surprised if North or any of the others want to talk to me.

"Oh," She smiles, "he said he was going to his office."

I go there and knock on the door.

"Come in." I hear North call out.

I open the door, shuffle in, and close the door. I move to stand in front of his desk and look down.

"Da?" North asks.

"Sorry." I whisper a little too quietly, I could tell he didn't hear when his expression turned to one of confusion.

I clear my throat and speak a bit louder, "Sorry."

"Not to worry, Sandy explained what happened." North smiles gently at me.

"He did?" I look up surprised, "Yer ok with it?"

"Da." North keeps smiling. He smiles a lot.

"Oh, ok." I got to leave.

"Oh," North calls to me, "and do not worry. The others will come 'round."

I stop at the door and turn around straightening up, "I only need three people in my life other than children and two of them are here. I don't need anyone else." With that I leave.

North just shook his head as I left and went back to his work. I wander around and end up in the kitchen. I seem to find all the sugary food and thankfully candy! It didn't take long for the sugar to make me hyper and the mischief run free. Surprisingly I got help from Jack to pull pranks on the others. We were plotting the ultimate prank on Pitch. Thankfully he was unaware. Jack dumps a bucket of pink paint, that we mixed glitter into, on Pitch. I use a spell to make it to where he can't get it off, no matter what.

"What the?!" Pitch yells.

Jack and I get out of there quick. We go to the sitting room, where everyone else was, laughing our butts off.

River giggles, "It suits him, don't ya think papa?"

"Sure." Bunny grunts out.

Cupid is smiling. Patrick laughs hugging me close since I decided to sit on his lap, "That's my little brother."

I smile, "It's one of my favorites. You know that better than any Patty." My smile turns into a mischievous grin.

North is amused by this and Sandy doubles over in silent laughter. I'm sure he remembers all the times Patty and I would disagree and he would end up like Pitch is now. Tooth is trying so hard not to laugh but nearly does when Bunny speaks up. "So Patty, he's the reason ya'd show up covered on pink and glitter when we first fought her?"

"Yup." Patrick nods. I giggle. Pat tickles me a bit, "But I managed to get him back a few times."

I shive his hands away from my stomach, "Yer pranks were always weak!"

Sandy makes a sand image of one of our many fights. River steps back for some reason.

I recognize this one, "Oh! That the one where I actually beat him once!" I was actually talking in a normal tone of voice.

"You beat Patrick?" Tooth asks, "That's rare."

"Extremely." Bunny agrees.

"He used his powers and cheated." Pat claims as he decides to muss up my hair through the hood of my hoodie that I never take off. I hate taking my hood off. I push Patrick's hands away from me. Sandy smiles at his two boys.

Tooth leans over and whispers to Sandy, but I can read lips, "They are so adorable. I never knew Patrick had a younger brother and could be so mature."

Sandy signs out, 'Only when Salem's around.'

Tooth suddenly squeals, "That's so sweet and adorable!"

I cover my ears and mutters, "Owwie." I rub my ears to soothe them.

'Salem has sensitive hearing." Sandy signs.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Tooth frets.

I give her a gentle smile, she reminds me of my mom, "It's fine." I catch out of the corner of my eye Sandy smiling. I make a face at him causing pat to crack up laughing. I stuck my tongue out, with on hand pulled an eye lid down, and with the other, pushed the tip of my nose up revealing my nostrils. I grin as Sandy silently laughs and Jack, who was flying around the room, doubles over in laughter. Rivers snickers, North smiles at all the laughter, and Bunny was the party pooper in my mind, all he did was shake his head, I can't tell if it was out of amusement or not. Cupid seem to be enjoying himself, he had a small smile.

I snuggle down, "Hey Cupid."

"Yes?" Cupid asks.

"I bet you haven't figured something out about Pat yet." Patrick was in for it since he mussed my hair up.

"Oh, really?" Cupid quirks an eyebrow.

"Aside from hating being called Patty," I start tickling his left side, "he's ticklish on his left side."

Cupid smirks, "Enlighten me, please."

"Nope." I giggle at Patrick's distress, "I get to keep the best. How else am I supposed to get my way?"

"Ah, understood." Cupid nods.

"But… Maybe when he's not around, I could tell you some nicknames?" I am proud of Patty's distress. It means I'm doing my job as his little brother.

"I would enjoy that." Cupid has a small smile on his face.

"Me too!" I grin, excited, "Now someone else will help me torture him!"

Pat starts rambling, "What?! No, no way is that happening!"

"Try and stop it." I challenge, "Remember three years ago? That will happen again."

Sandy quickly shakes head and signs, 'NO!'

"Must've been horrible." Cupid muses.

"Nope." I shrug.

Pat thinks back, "Not really."

"Then I don't see the problem in having a nice chat with Salem here." Cupid insists.

Patrick rolls his eyes exasperated, "The nicknames are annoying and he knows it!"

"Then even more reason to talk to him." Cupid smirks.

"Wait! Wait!" Jack interrupts Patrick's response, "What happened three years ago?"

"Yea!" River pipes up, "I'm curious too."

I start giggling, "Well, Patty tried to stop me from doing something and it lead to a nasty fight. Sandy doesn't want a repeat. That's why he said no when I threatened it."

"Cool!" Jack exclaims.

Sandy shakes his head 'No'.

"Sounds fun." At some point River ended up sitting in the air.

"Depends on yer involvement in the fight." Pat says absently. He had started playing with my converse, it was easy for him since I was sitting cross-legged.

"Ok, then I can tell you what annoys Cupid." River offers.

"Really?" Patrick and I ask at the same time.

"Yup." River smiles.

"Why will you tell them that stuff, River?" Cupid asks, curious and annoyed.

"I'm your sister, it's my job to torture you dear brother." River teases.

"See Pat? I'm not the only one!" I grin at him.

"Nope." River grins.

Patrick just keeps playing with my converse as if nothing was said. River settles down and uses Cupid s a pillow. He was obviously used to it and just pet hair. Pitch finally comes in, he was obviously not happy. But, hey, he is still a glittery pink. River snickers. Jack cracks up and doubles over in laughter, while Sandy silently laughs. Bunny smiles. Pat grins childishly, "Hey Pitch, what's new with you? Having fun here yet?"

"No." Pitch says coldly.

Patrick, unfazed ny Pitch's cold tone, pouts, "Awww, why?"

"I'm pink and covered in glitter." Pitch hisses.

"Yea." Pat nods, "But hey! Look at it this way, I'm not drunk and it ain't my holiday!" Pitch and Cupid have played Patrick's protectors for centuries on his holiday. Pitch has these on/off moments of being on the good side of the fight.

Pitch sighs, "True."

Pat gives him a huge grin. Pitch just shakes his head at his friend. Cupid sighs, now joining their conversation, "Pitch, remind me. Why are we friends with him again?"

"No clue." Is Pitch's unhelpful response.

"Hey!" Patrick shouts/

I cover my ears against the loud sound, "Jer! I'm right here!"

River snickers at my pain. So I glare at her, "Let's just say, I have a dog's hearing times ten."

Bunny grimaces, he has enhanced hearing so he can sympathize with me. River points at Cupid with a stuffed animal, "Not you, him."

"The heck?" I question.

"It's a stuffed animal. Like what little kids play with. Hey Cupid? Are ya a child or somethin?" Pat is deciding to be a sarcastic butthole, again.

Cupid just ignored him. River jumps in, "He has a huge weakness for stuffed animals."

"Yea, found that out around the time they were first made." Pat grins, I think, at the memory.

"Watch this." River takes the stuffed animal away. Cupid immediately starts reaching for it.

Pat shrugs, "Not as awesome as way back when."

River runs off with Cupid chasing her. I settle back against my brother, I was tired. Patrick rubs my stomach to help me go to sleep, "So Pitch, any ideas on how that happened to you?"

"A couple." Pitch frowns crossing his arms.

"Care ta share?" Pat grins, "Hey! I'm a poet and didn't even know it! I can rhythm anytime-oof." I elbow Patrick, he was getting annoying again.

"Salem," Pitch looks to me, "and Frost." He looks to Jack and answers Pat.

"Who's Salem?" Tooth looks between all of us.

Pitch points to me, "Halloween."

"So, kid's got a real name, huh?" Bunny practically sneers.

"Yup." Pat nods absently.

"And Pitch knew? Why's that?" Bunny asks suspiciously for whatever reason. Probably because he still has that pole up his butt about me.

Patrick acts oblivious to Bunny's tone and answers evasively, "No reason."

I smile sweetly at Bunny, "I wonder what you would like black and orange and frozen to the ceiling. I'm sure Jack wouldn't mind helping with that."

"Oh no, not happening mate." Bunny tells me not to do something.

Patty winces, "Shouldn't tell him not to do something. That's sealing yer fate, because he will do it."

"Well that's just great." Bunny grumbles.

I give him my best innocent face. Pat starts snickering and Pitch raises an eyebrow. The next few hours were very similar to this, teasing, joking, and Jack throwing snowballs. But all good things have to come to an end. Bed time. I choose to sleep in the rafters along with Jack, River built a stuffed animal nest, and the others went to bedrooms and slept in beds. Well, so Jack and I thought until we crept into Bunny's room and found him asleep in a nest made of blankets.


End file.
